schoonie3

Please excuse my ignorance on this guys. I just bought an 05 E500 with 6600 miles. Because I did not know the history of the car, I took it in for an oil change and to check for recall notices. One of the items I asked about was lifter noise, as you can hear a slight "tick-tick-tick" from outside the car which is slightly lounder with the hood open. It seems slightly louder on the passenger side of the car than the drivers side. Of couse, I have not listened to other E500's so I do not know if any of this is normal.

Well the service advisor just called and said the technician agrees and want to replace the "lifters", under warranty of course. This to me seems like MAJOR surgery for a car with 6600 miles on it. I asked if this was lifter replacement of head replacemnet becuase I do not know if this V8 has overhead valves. Of course he did not know.

I plan to try to listen to another E500 over the weekend, but I have a few questions.

1. Do you guys hear some lifter noise (or ticking) on your car?
2. Does this seem right, or is my dealer trying to earn some warranty related revenue?
3. What could possibly happen in 6600 miles to make lifters or valves go bad?
4. Would you let them replace the "lifters", regardless if there is a true problem or not, would there be any benefits?

Thanks for your input. (I told him no for now, but he want the car back next week)

konigstiger

Here’s the thing, do you also here ticking when accelerating (i.e.: between 1200 & 3000 rpm)?

If so, by no means do I profess to be more competent than your dealership’s technician(s). Furthermore I cannot fathom that this problem I suggest still exists in a 2005 model because this was successfully diagnosed and solved back in 2003. Suggest they take a look at the motor mounts. As a matter of reference: P-B-07-00/21f JUL03 Engine Noise (engine ticking, slap like sound) 2003 E500 – Replace motor mounts and reset flywheel.

If not, suggest they take a look at the purge valve (fuel injection system). Not ruling out, of course, that it may indeed be the lifters.

RJC

The 3 valve MB engines do have noisy valvetrains, changing the lifters may or may not help. The ony real danger of a lifter job is if one of the bolts going into the head breaks off (it happened on my 01 CLK430 for noisy lifter repair) which reqired a new head!!! This is not common but it does happen about 5% of the time. Compare it to others at the dealership under the exact same temps conditions etc. and see how they all sound. Good luck.

schoonie3

I talked to the tech when I picked the car up and he said that some rattle or ticking is normal on start-up but mine was "bad-normal" -whatever that means. I asked for specifics on what and how the lifters would be bad after just 6600 miles and he could not give me any reasons besides..."sometimes they come bad from the factory".

I listened more when I got home and it more like a cross between a rattle and chug than a tick. Does any of this ring a bell with anyone as to what normal valvetrain noise is like?

konigstiger

I believe your dealer can pull up the maintenance and/or service history using your VIN.

RJC

Just go listen to another car like yours at the dealer and hear for yourself

Thrillhouse

Well I cannot really tell you without listening to it and checking out a few other things, the evap purge solenoid is on the left side of the engine bay and makes clicking noises, not really much you can do about that due to it being a solenoid and constantly "clicking" open and closed. As far as lifters, I have seen one or two lifters go bad that early in the mileage, it does happen, even if its just one or two all of them must be replaced on that bank, due to wear characteristics. This does not involve head removal, only valve cover and then the lifters...........

Onto your questions,
1. Do you guys hear some lifter noise (or ticking) on your car? I dont own one so i couldnt tell ya, If I come across one and I remember Ill check and post back here
2. Does this seem right, or is my dealer trying to earn some warranty related revenue? Eh, probably not, but what could having new lifters hurt if your getting them for free
3. What could possibly happen in 6600 miles to make lifters or valves go bad?
well sometimes from the factory the machining in the oil ports in the lifters will be out of spec causing the proper oil pressure to build up in one or two lifters, the lifter will still work but it will be looser and cause a ticking noise
4. Would you let them replace the "lifters", regardless if there is a true problem or not, would there be any benefits? Hell yes I would let them replace them, even if its not the problem the cost is free, and free is good.

schoonie3

Where here is the result. I went to the used lot at the local MB dealer today and they had a 2004 with 21000 miles (mine has only 6600). I listened to both engines side by side. On the dealers car you heard mainly the whirl of the belt and only a slight chug of the valves (the salesman had a good comparison that they valvetrain has a sewing machine sound). On my car, you heard he same whirl but also an obviously louder valve noise coming from the passenger side cylinder bank. Looks like I'll be getting some lifter work.

Here are a few more questions.

1. The Tech mentioned replacing ALL lifters (both banks, when it sounds like only the lifters on one bank are bad. Would you them replace all lifters or just the ones that are bad?

2. My paranoia on this is just worry that the tech could screw something up and cause other problems down the road (likely after the car is out of warranty knowing my luck). It seems to me that you would be better guaranteed factory specs on the lifters and such if they replaced the whole complete head versus tearing down and replacing just the lifters. Would you talk to the dealer and / or tech about this?

Thanks guys.

Benz-O-Rama

Ok, so I may be new to the Mercedes world but is there any chance that this could just be a minor exhaust leak at or near the exhaust manifold thats resonating throughout the engine compartment?


I don't know, just a guess